was doing macarons for my latest order and was really happy with the outcome for this batch. the feet looks pretty consistent and this batch has got such pretty colors! from left : rose, dark choc, caramel fleur de sel, matcha & coffee.

i just had a painful tooth extraction a week ago and i've virtually been surviving on semi-solid food. that means porridge oats or cookies dunk in milk. really boring actually. i wanted something for a change and came across this butternut pumpkin risotto recipe which looks really really delicious. it uses vanilla bean in the pumpkin puree and it makes me wonder how vanilla could find its way into savory dishes so i was curious to give it a try.

i've put off making this tart long enough and i'm finally glad i made it. having bookmarked this recipe for almost a year, each time i look at it i just feel like i don't hv the courage to go ahead coz i don't hv so many of the ingredients called for, things like titanium dioxide, tahitian and mexican vanilla beans as well as trimoline (inverted sugar) used for the biscuit cuillere (sponge fingers). in the end i decided to make do with whatever i hv and cut corners whenever possible and luckily for me, the tart turned out glorious still. so far i've used a couple of pierre herme's recipes, from the complicated ones like the emotion ispahan verrines and this vanilla tart to some of the basic recipes like candied citrus peel, pate sablee tart crust, choux pastry, passionfruit milk choc ganache for the mogador macaron etc, i must say his recipes are nothing short of amazing. it really makes me wonder - if my homemade renditions could be this good, what more for those coming out of his own hands, the picasso of pastry himself?

i made purple sweet potato mont blanc again last week upon hubby's request and got some leftover puree from it. its not easy to find purple sweet potato recipes out there especially dessert ones (so far i only came across a few blogs using the same purple sweet potato chiffon cake recipe). i wanted to go for that at 1st but the thought of having to use 5 eggs in a cake just don't appeal to me. and having to work with egg whites all day while making macarons, the last thing i wanna do is whisk more egg whites so i decided on something simple and i made this without a recipe. drawing my inspiration from the korean hobakjuk (sweet pumpkin porridge) and the chinese black sesame seed paste, i decided to make a paste/gruel of sorts and then topped it with glutinous rice balls and sesame seeds. surprisingly it tasted quite good.

ever since i bought a nice wooden table from IKEA which was meant to be a proper table for photography at my balcony area, i realize i like having breakfast there as well. my balcony is breezy and well lit in the morning and its just so calm and serene sitting there having a leisurely breakfast. that was part of the reason for this entry. another reason was coz i woke up this morning feeling the need to practice on my food styling, something which i'm always very lazy to do coz i just simply suck at it (read : no talent) and the idea of having extra things to wash up just don't appeal to me. but with all the props that i'm constantly purchasing, i think i might as well just make the best out of everything.

finally i've waited long enough for dates to be on the shelves again so i jumped at the change to try my hands on another recipe. my previous attempt last year was too cakey and i really wanted a pudding-like one this time. when i saw felicia's entry on it, i told myself i HAD to make it. hers look really really good! the truth is, this one is cake-like too but better than my previous. i'm wondering if i shd hv underbaked it a little but nonetheless its really delicious, with or without the sauce and ice cream. and OMG, i finally succeeded in scooping a one-spoon ice cream quenelle, much to my delight :D i've always wanted to scoop a quenelle coz its really elegant but the two-spoon method don't quite cut it for me. after much practice, i can safely say - i'm getting there!!

having made quite a few korean dishes now, there's no way to leave out the banchans. out of the so many varieties, one of my favorite would have to be this - myeolchi (myulchi) bokkeum or spicy anchovies. doused with a sweet, spicy and sticky sauce, i would be happy to have it with rice alone without any other dishes to go along. its that addictive! its also very easy to make, usually under 10 mins and i've made this quite a couple of times now. there's the non-spicy version as well but gimme the spicy one anytime!

i've got some leftover mint from the tarte aux fruits rouges so i decided to make something simple. not sure when it started but i actually liked eating mint just like that. i used to use them solely for decor and if mint has to find its way through my food, they're only limited to jelly ie. with lamb, or in teas and drinks. so when i saw this recipe i knew i had to try it. fruit salad is common but the moment i read that it uses grand marnier, my favorite orange liqueur, i was sold!

tarte aux fruits rouges, or red fruit tart is a simple summer berry tart thats hard to go wrong with. while i'm not sure if there's a fixed recipe to it but i think the most common version would be to use a pâte sucrée (sweet crust pastry) and crème pâtissière (pastry cream) or custard. in here though, i used pierre herme's pâte sablée crust, a really nice, rich and buttery crust with ground almonds hence the name 'sandy dough'. i then filled the tarts, or rather tartlets with creme d'amandes, a baked almond cream traditionally used in frangipane tarts and brushed with a generous a layer of raspberry jam before adorning them with berries.